[3] As of August 2016, 191 states have become parties to the treaty, though North Korea, which acceded in 1985 but never came into compliance, announced its withdrawal from the NPT in 2003, following detonation of nuclear devices in violation of core obligations.

An effective nonproliferation regime whose members comply with their obligations provides an essential foundation for progress on disarmament and makes possible greater cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

"[22] NPT Article IV acknowledges the right of all Parties to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and to benefit from international cooperation in this area, in conformity with their nonproliferation obligations.

Mohamed ElBaradei, then Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has called the spread of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities the "Achilles' heel" of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

[28] Because the availability of fissile material has long been considered the principal obstacle to, and "pacing element" for, a country's nuclear weapons development effort, it was declared a major emphasis of U.S. policy in 2004 to prevent the further spread of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing (a.k.a.

Iran was found in non-compliance with its NPT safeguards obligations in an unusual non-consensus decision because it "failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time" to report aspects of its enrichment program.

All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Initial efforts, which began in 1946, to create an international system enabling all States to have access to nuclear technology under appropriate safeguards, were terminated in 1949 without the achievement of this objective, due to serious political differences between the major Powers.

[43] (West Germany was discussed in U.S. intelligence estimates for a number of years as being a country with the potential to develop nuclear weapons capabilities of its own if officials in Bonn were not convinced that their defense against the Soviet Union and its allies could otherwise be met.

"[61] Although there have been unofficial discussions on creating a South Asian nuclear weapons free zone, including India and Pakistan, this is considered to be highly unlikely for the foreseeable future.

The consensus was arrived after overcoming misgivings expressed by Austria, Ireland and New Zealand and is an unprecedented step in giving exemption to a country, which has not signed the NPT and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

[72] In November 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a desire to allow exports to India,[73] a policy change which was authorized by her party's national conference in December.

The difficult issue of the supply of light water reactors to replace North Korea's indigenous nuclear power plant program, as per the 1994 Agreed Framework, was left to be resolved in future discussions.

[104] The six-party talks eventually collapsed before a final agreement could be negotiated after the U.S. State Department sanctioned Banco Delta Asia under Section 311 of the Patriot Act for money-laundering involving North Korean accounts.

In February 2007 the parties agreed to the Initial Actions for the Implementation for the Joint Statement in which North Korea would dismantle its nuclear weapons programs, including the Yongbyon reactor, in exchange for the return of frozen funds at Banco Delta Asia and foreign energy assistance.

Quite apart from the fact that North Korean First Vice Minister Kang Sok-ju at one point admitted the existence of a uranium enrichment program, Pakistan's then-President Musharraf revealed that the A.Q.

[122] As The Bush Administration's Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mike McConnell put it in 2008, the aspects of its work that Iran allegedly suspended were thus "probably the least significant part of the program.

[129] In December 2003, Libya announced that it had agreed to eliminate all its WMD programs, and permitted U.S. and British teams (as well as IAEA inspectors) into the country to assist this process and verify its completion.

In 1993, political scientist John Mearsheimer argued that the United States should encourage Ukraine to retain a nuclear deterrent against potential Russian expansion, and to reduce the danger of war.

[135][136] However, Mariana Budjeryn of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, argued that it was unclear whether Ukraine's nuclear arsenal would have kept it safe from Russian aggression.

In October 2002, the United States accused North Korea of violating the Agreed Framework by pursuing a secret uranium enrichment program, and suspended shipments of heavy fuel oil under that agreement.

The Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 at the end of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks called for North Korea to "return" to the NPT, implicitly acknowledging that it had withdrawn.

On 18 July 2005, US President George W. Bush met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and declared that he would work to change US law and international rules to permit trade in US civilian nuclear technology with India.

[154] According to Foreign Policy, Obama proposed a "one-third reduction in strategic nuclear warheads—on top of the cuts already required by the New START treaty—bringing the number of deployed warheads to about 1,000".

[154] Obama is seeking to "negotiate these reductions with Russia to continue to move beyond Cold War nuclear postures," according to briefing documents provided to Foreign Policy.

[155] The 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was held at the United Nations in New York from 27 April to 22 May 2015 and presided over by Ambassador Taous Feroukhi of Algeria.

By the time accelerated dismantlement efforts ordered by President George W. Bush were completed, the U.S. arsenal was less than a quarter of its size at the end of the Cold War, and smaller than it had been at any point since the Eisenhower administration, well before the drafting of the NPT.

[171] According to Thomas Reed and Danny Stillman, the "NPT has one giant loophole": Article IV gives each non-nuclear weapon state the "inalienable right" to pursue nuclear energy for the generation of power.

Entering into force on 22 January 2021,[172] it prohibits each state party from the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance to those activities.

Ineffective enforcement of territorial integrity and rule of law in the 21st century[173] could undermine the credibility of the security assurances that are part of the current global nuclear order.